How I teach the Declaration of Independence

 

Students are exposed to challenging content all throughout their lives. However, the middle school adds in a few extra challenges. Between friendship issues , puberty, and self-esteem, students are really struggling 😭! Therefore, it is key to bring in engaging ways to teach the challenging content. Additionally, it greatly helps to build connections 🤝in order for students to relate to the content. For example, they may love to celebrate Independence Day on July 4th 🎆 but not know the true meaning behind it. Thus, the 3 steps below will be incredibly helpful when teaching the Declaration of Independence!

1. Use the Comparison of a Couple Breaking Up

When teaching the Declaration of Independence, it will be important to bring in a comparison that middle school students will understand. Hence, explain this as a couple breaking up 💔. Now, some middle school students may not have personally been in a relationship yet. However, they have seen many breakups on TV 📺, in their own family 👪, or with a friend 👦. Therefore, it is a connection they can truly understand.

 

When first starting this comparison, ask students: What would be some reasons you would break up with someone? For example, there may be distance issues between the two people ✈. Or, there may be problems with communication 🤐, happiness, and respecting each other's decisions. Unfortunately, problems may become so bad that an apology just isn’t enough 🚫. There needs to be a formal separation and end of the relationship. By making this comparison, students will have a strong understanding of why the Declaration of Independence was needed. In order to truly excite your students, be sure to play Too Late To Apologize: A Declaration  ! Students will love the new lyrics to this well-known song 🎵.

2. Sections of the Declaration of Independence 

After students gain an understanding on why the Declaration of Independence was needed, it is time to dive deeper into the content. If the relationship comparison really connected with students, this step can even be explained as a divorce 💔. Specifically, compromises have to be worked out in order for all involved parties to come to an agreement 👍. Just as adults have to communicate and compromise, the 13 colonies had to do the same.

 

In order to break down the Declaration, this Close Reading and Text Analysis resource does an incredible job at explaining the different components. Here, students are provided three methods for decoding a really complicated text . Additionally, they use cooperative learning for analyzing the text 📕. By doing this, the reading 👀 is not so overwhelming. Then, they will listen to music to see Britain’s reaction. Since many students love music 🎵, this is a great way to help them understand the content. After this, students will be guided to depict grievances against King George. This resource does an incredible job at taking a document made of a ton of words and really simplifying them down to the most important aspects.

3. In-Depth Review of Grievances

After explaining what the Declaration is and how it is set up, it is time to move onto complications that arose. This in-depth review will focus on grievances and what they meant. Therefore, by doing this after the Close Reading and Text Analysis resource 👀, students will already have a general idea on this topic. Now, students can dive into the deeper content. To do this, they can explore different grievances, such as colonist participation in government and law enforcement, and separate them into categories. For example, categorize based on political, social, or economic aspects. These three are key issues in any major decision-making.

 

In order to help students really understand how grievances develop, it can be helpful to look 👀 at different parts of the American Revolution. For instance, the  Articles of Confederation Drag and Drop Activity is such a hands-on way 💻 for students to explore complex topics. Additionally, the activities will help students see the 👆 ups and downs 👇 that occurred during the establishment of the United States. Here, there are activities on the strengths and weaknesses of the Articles of Confederation and even the Northwest Ordinance.

 

The Declaration of Independence is such a complex topic to learn about. There are many people involved 👴👨👴 and several reasons for why it happened. Furthermore, there are endless complications that occurred during the Declaration development. Therefore, these 3 engaging strategies will greatly help break down the topic into one that all students can understand!

 

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